Related Links

Seoul
- North and South Korea held their first official talks for more than two years
on Sunday, seeking to set up a high-level meeting in Seoul after months of
tensions and threats of nuclear war.

The working-level discussions - weighed down, as always, by
decades of mutual distrust - were held in the border truce village of Panmunjom
where the armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean War was signed.

"The overall atmosphere was... calm and the discussion
proceeded with no major debate," the South's Unification Ministry spokesperson
Kim Hyung-Seok said after the morning session between the two delegations, each
comprising three representatives.

The talks moved into a fourth session in the evening as the two
sides sought to agree a framework for what would be their first
ministerial-level meeting since 2007 - tentatively scheduled in Seoul on
Wednesday.

The agenda will focus on restoring suspended commercial links,
including the Kaesong joint industrial complex that the North effectively shut
down in April as tensions between the historic rivals peaked.

Seoul said it would be represented by Unification Minister Ryoo
Kihl-jae as chief negotiator and has asked the North to send Kim Yang-on, head
of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, as its top
negotiator, according to Yonhap news agency.

"Today's talks were purely preparatory, so there was little
room for dispute," said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of
North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"We'll get a better sense of where things really stand on
Wednesday," Yang told AFP.

Sunday's talks came about after an unexpected reversal on Thursday
from North Korea, which suddenly dropped its default tone of high-decibel
belligerence and proposed opening a dialogue.

South Korea responded swiftly with its offer of a ministerial
meeting in Seoul, the North countered with a request for lower-level talks
first and, after some relatively benign to-and-fro about the best venue,
Sunday's meet in Panmunjom was agreed.

In a further signal of intent, North Korea on Friday restored its
official hotline with the South, which it had severed in March.

The move towards dialogue has been broadly welcomed - given the
threats of nuclear war that were being flung around in April and May - but
there is sizeable scepticism about Pyongyang's intentions.

"The North Korean offer has all of the hallmarks of
Pyongyang's diplomacy," said Stephan Haggard, a North Korea expert at the
Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"Pyongyang is 'sincerely' and 'magnanimously' inviting the
South to fix, and pay for, problems of the North's own creation," Haggard
said.

It was the North's decision to withdraw its 53 000 workers in
early April that closed Kaesong.

The North also wants to discuss resuming tours by South Koreans to
its Mount Kumgang resort. These were suspended after a North Korean soldier
shot dead a South Korean tourist there in July 2008.

Kaesong and Mount Kumgang were both significant sources of scarce
foreign currency for North Korea, which is squeezed by UN sanctions imposed
over its nuclear weapons programme.

There are also suggestions that Pyongyang was playing to a
specific audience by proposing talks just before US President Barack Obama and
Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down for their crucial summit in California.

China, the North's sole major ally and economic benefactor, has
been under US pressure to restrain its neighbour and has pushed Pyongyang to
drop its destabilising strategy of confrontation.

On Saturday, Obama and Xi closely consulted on North Korea's
recent nuclear brinkmanship, and agreed to work together on the
"denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula, US National Security
Advisor Tom Donilon said.

Analysts say South Korea will approach talks with Pyongyang with a
caution born of long experience.

President Park Geun-Hye, who took office in February with a
promise of greater engagement with Pyongyang, has welcomed the initiative.

But she remains adamant that any substantive dialogue can only
take place if the North shows some tangible commitment to abandoning its
nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea has been equally emphatic in declaring its nuclear
deterrent is not up for negotiation.

It was the North's nuclear test in February, and subsequent UN
sanctions, that triggered the recent crisis, which saw Pyongyang threaten both
the South and the United States with pre-emptive nuclear strikes.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Saving your profile

Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location.
If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a
location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to
take affect.

Your Location*

Weather*

Always remember my setting

Saving your settings

Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.